The world on his shoulders

Galchenyuk, the number one selection in the Ontario Hockey League draft, is expected to lead the Sarnia Sting back to respectability this season, beginning with a playoff berth.

And while school may be out for the summer, the 16-year-old is taking extra lessons on the ice.

"I'm working hard trying to get ready for the season," Galchenyuk said. "There's a lot of pressure on me, but I'm trying to work hard."

Fresh off a ten-day training camp with the National Institute of Hockey in St. Catharines, where he worked out regularly and spent six hours on skates daily, Galchenyuk was back in the RBC Centre Monday for some drills with his father, Alexander Galchenyuk Sr., a former star with Moscow Dynamo.

Although born in the United States, the younger Galchenyuk grew up in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Russia while his father moved from team to team during his hockey career.

Galchenyuk's agent, former- NHLer Igor Larionov, said the OHL is the best place for Galchenyuk to develop as a player.

"It's the best possible route to go to the NHL," said Larionov, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"He's such a talented young player. He's got all the tools: he knows the game well; he has a good hockey sense; he makes the players around him play better."

Larionov, a former teammate in Detroit of Sting co-owner Dino Ciccarelli, is helping Galchenyuk on and off the ice.

"He's still a young kid and he'll get used to the pressure," he said.

The high expectations of Galchenyuk are amplified by the fact the last time the Sting picked first overall selection in the OHL draft in 2006 they took Steve Stamkos, already a blossoming superstar in the NHL.